The first action of the Battle of Reed's Bridge took place east of this site when 125 Missouri Confederates opened fire on Brigadier General John Wynn Davidson's Union cavalry division at about 11 a.m. on August 27, 1863. The Federals drove the stubborn Confederates back toward their main line of defense southeast of here. After Davidson deceived his opponents by having drums beat to suggest the presence of Union infantry, the Southerners fell back across Bayou Meto and burned Reed's Bridge behind them. Colonel B. Frank Gordon, C.S.A., recalled that as the Union forces pushed forward impetuously, a roar of musketry struck their ranks and broke up their lines for a time in dismay and confusion, while Frances Marion Emmons of the Seventh Missouri Cavalry, U.S., remembered that the drums made the Confederates think ten thousand infantry were upon them and that Davidson laughed to see them run at the trick.